Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 72561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
My mind was whirling.
“Well, whatever happened, I’m going back to Channing.” I asked as I started heading towards the front door.
“Use the back,” Silas and Zeth said at the same time.
I nodded and redirected myself only for the windows behind me to shatter in a spray of bullets.
“Motherfucker,” I said as I dropped down to all fours, and then even further to my stomach.
Curses were echoed behind me, but there were no shouts of pain, which was the one positive thing in this huge clusterfuck.
“We need to get out of here. Is there any other way besides...” Silas speaking, but his question was cut off by a percussion grenade.
Lights and sounds disappeared for a very long time, and I came to minutes...or maybe hours, later.
The first thing to return was my sight.
Followed shortly by my hearing.
Finally, my disorientation cleared, and a blast from my past sped full throttle into my face.
Mick Dempsey, the leader of the Crimson Horde, the gang I’d used to be a part of, was staring me in the face.
In full uniform.
Police uniform that is.
I stared at him in shock.
“This was too fucking perfect. What? You thought you were the only one Zeth saved? Well, think again. He saved me, too. Except he didn’t marry my mother like he married yours. My life didn’t turn into a privileged existence like yours did. Bryce was awarded this, Bryce made detective. Bryce won a Grammy,” Mick snapped.
“I’ve been following your fucking life for years because your stepfather’s so goddamned proud of you. Saw you around town when you were visiting your mom. Took me two days to figure out why you were there, and suddenly it clicked. Me and Varian became a match made in heaven!” He leered. “Then, last week, your mother came in and told the whole goddamned station about how she was getting a new grandbaby by the one and only Bryce Rector, and that only made the pot all the more sweeter.”
“I don’t have any beef against you, man. Just let us go. I won’t say a thing,” I told Mick.
Goddamn, but I’d never thought this was all tied to my past.
Out of all the people I’d considered to be helping Varian, Mick, the old gang leader and upstanding police officer, was never even in the same ballpark.
“No, I don’t think I will. I do have Varian on speed dial though. Want to see how your baby momma’s doing?” Mick asked.
My gut dropped, but I refused to show him any emotion. If he knew what he was doing to me, he’d be proud. And I sure as fuck wasn’t giving him the satisfaction.
Then the phone call connected, and I could hear Channing screaming.
That was when I lost it.
Chapter 19
I don’t want to let it go. I want to beat you over the head with a nine iron while Let it Go plays in the background.
-Channing to her attacker
Channing
“Hello?” I said into Andrea’s phone.
I’d tried my cell phone, but it wasn’t working, and I had the creepiest dream about that dead mother.
I’d woken to my heart beating so hard that I could feel it through the comforter covering my chest.
I’d looked all over the house, sans Zeth and Andrea’s room, for Loki, but I couldn’t find him anywhere.
I’d even gone down to the dock, but the only thing I’d found down there was a fishing boat just a short mile off shore, getting their fishing started early.
It was five in the morning, but that wasn’t an unusual time for Loki. He normally got up around this time to get his workouts in. It was just my bad luck that he chose to do it on the morning I had a dream about a dead woman.
I was in the process of hanging up the phone when I had the sensation that I was being watched.
The hair on my arms stood on end, and the skin at the back of my neck started to tingle.
I turned, or at least tried to, but I got shoved down to the ground where I landed on my hands and knees.
Then a vicious kick to the back of my thigh had me gasping in pain before I collapsed to my belly.
“He really thought he could take me down, didn’t he?” Varian Strong said from above and behind me.
I whimpered when Varian’s foot went to my armpit, collapsing my arm until my chest was flush with the ground.
He leaned in, keeping his weight on the back of my arm until I was screaming in pain.
“Do you think he’ll like hearing you scream? Let’s call him and find out,” he hissed.
I could hear the phone dialing, and then it was ringing.
Varian turned the volume up high, placing it on speaker phone to allow me to hear Loki’s panicked voice when he finally answered. “Loki’s phone, Mick speaking.”
Varian’s laugh was dark and bloodthirsty. “Hiya, Mick! Guess who I have on the phone!”
Varian pressed down on the back of my arm again, making my elbow scream in protest as he nearly pressed his full weight on it.
I knew it was only a matter of seconds before the bones in my upper arm and forearm snapped from the pressure.
What I also knew was that I wouldn’t be able to hold back the scream. I was barely able to do it now, and he hadn’t even done anything yet.
I closed my eyes, wishing that I was sitting out on the dock with Loki again, letting my feet dangle off the side.
“Can you put Loki on speaker phone?” Varian asked.
He waited a few moments before saying, “Ohh, how about a little Facetime, old friend?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Andrea, wide eyed and wielding what looked to be a rifle, big enough to take down an elephant, stop just shy of the kitchen doorway.
She looked torn, looking from me to Varian, and was just about to step in when I shook my head frantically.
“Ohh, it’ll be okay, Chan-Chan. It’ll all be over soon,” Varian said. “Ahh, there we go. Hi there, Loki. You look a bit tied up.”